15_the_circle

[OT from cottage renovations]

last night things ended up running late as usual but I wasn't quite ready to turn in. it was pushing midnight; since I had been missing the daily cycling commute I decided to go out for a walk. no destination could be more natural than heading W to the railway where as luck would have it I found myself walking up to the depot as Amtrak 5 was making its station stop. it pauses here for a while in order to accommodate a crew change and the opportunity to refuel the locomotives. the train runs from Chicago to ~~Oakland~~ Emeryville so by the time it got here everybody had found their way into their travel routines. some passengers were out on the platform quietly chatting or taking a cigarette break. the evening was warm and pleasant and there was plenty of time so nobody was particularly rushed about things.

departure time came, the conductor called out the customary "All Aboaaaarrrrd" and doors slammed shut as the signal aspect reflecting along the silver sides of the high cars changed from red-over-red to yellow-over-yellow and it pulled out of its siding, gliding down the main track into the night. as stationmaster and car knocker tidied things up I headed back to the lodgings, happy to have seen the ritual enacted once more of a night train making a station stop. anywhere.

our long distance passenger trains have been in decline for many years and are very nearly gone. though what's left is merely a pathetic remnant of what once was, I am reminded of the need to ride one again while it can still be done. not tonight, but sooner would be better than later. not for what there is, but out of an affectionate regard for what is gone.

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Near my hometown:

http://www.samshortline.com/georgia/sam/default.htm

riding an excursion train on a short line is pleasant enough, and often manifests a down home bucolic charm that can be completely irresistible. I have ridden a few from time to time, though never that one, at least not yet.

but it's a completely different experience from what it's like to take a sleeper on an overnight train. well, OK, from what it was like, I suppose. comparisons are difficult to come up with because it really is unlike any other mode of transportation. I need to renew that acquaintance before they are gone forever.

No, there's nothing else like a long-distance train ride. As the rock band Journey said in their song "Don't Stop Believing",

"...but he could the midnight train going anywhere..."

Perhaps the feelings only linger for those of us old enough to remember midnight trains before Amtrak, but for me they always evoke a sense of longing, of infinite possibilities...yes, I could get on this train and be GONE. Again, Steely Dan:

"If I had my way, I would move to a better lifetime
Quit my job, ride the train in the misty nighttime..."

And I may, soon. News when you return.

Randy

Amtrak 5 carries the same name as CB&Q/D&RGW/WP 17 but I couldn't bear to use it in the piece. the California Zephyr -- the Silver Lady -- died before Amtrak and what still, for the moment, runs is not its worthy sucessor. more like a sad ghost.

I am glad to have ridden it then, and it is for the sake of its memory that I want to ride again. when the long distance trains are pulled and the lines go freight-only the opportunity will never return.

I have always loved trains and rode Amtrak this year for the first time. 14 hour ride each way plus extra time on the way up for the bus ride (after we went off of the tracks in someones front yard in Kentucky which was not a big deal as we were moving slow). I'd do it all over again.

Of course it is fun to ride the train and to make it the way one travels to visit far reaches of the country -- but the trouble is that now-a-days, who has enough vacation time that they can spend it so when they still have plans for the kids to see the family; perhaps for the kids to see both sides of the family? One must be very nearly independantly wealthy to afford this sort of time.

It should be noted when speaking nostalgically of the railroad that Mark Twain frequently commented that almost any mode of transport would be both better and faster than the train. In fact, in the rare cases that he spoke of where the train succeeded in being better a form of transport than its alternatives, he was quick to mention some other flaw that made the travel poor.

when the Wonder Boy was a wee bairn on one of our trips out to California to visit parents/grandparents we took the train: no. 29 from Washington to Chicago and no. 5 the rest of the way (at that time it had through cars to Los Angeles and to Seattle; both connections have already gone away). to help manage the time aspect you mentioned we booked an air-return package through Amtrak. for him it was highly educational and quite memorable. for anybody with kids I would recommend it highly.

in planning the trip the two things he had said he wanted to see were: cowboys and Indians. I was careful to tell him not to be disappointed if none were seen but sure enough as the train was coming into Denver the 2nd morning out there were stockyards. with cowboys managing the cattle. on horseback. not only that, the following day as were rode through Nevada he looked around the diner and noted a group of passengers at the next table who were wearing lots of silver and turquoise jewelry. yup, real Indians.

Twain's travel writing has not since been excelled. by anybody. of courase at the time rail was the dominant, not the disappearing mode of transport. adjusted for later technologies his insights apply equally well to the present day.

I agree that the time needed to travel by train is extensive. However, for me traveling alone it was better than the 10 hour trip by myself in the car, during winter and on roads that I had never traveled on before. My 14 hour trip was $55 one way also.

no. 5

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Midnight trains

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trains

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